Jawaharlal Nehru

If the first half of the 20th century in the history of India belonged to Mahatma Gandhi, the other half belonged to Jawaharlal Nehru, though he ruled over the newly independent India as its elected prime minister only for about 20 years from 1947 through 1964. It was on the democratic and secular pedestal that Nehru and his team built up, that India worked on to prove that it is a strong and prosperous presence among the comity of nations. Professor Percival Spear, famous indologist, assesses: By about 1950 it may be said that India had closed a chapter in her long history and opened another. The British had gone, the new regime had been successfully established, and outstanding questions left over from the past had been dealt with. The Congress (party) had, with the exception of the loss of Pakistan, completed its program, and the way was clear for India to chart a new course into the future.

Nehru was the central figure of this new India. So powerful was his personality and its hold on the people of his country and even abroad, that he was almost unquestioned as the top-most leader of India, and its prime minister. As the son of an equally brilliant father, as the disciple, favored son, and successor to India’s moral and ethical leader Mahatma Gandhi, as a modernist, socialist, and humanist, as the second-in-command to Gandhi in India’s freedom movement, the most popular leader of the Indian National Congress party, a first-rate author, orator and organizer, Jawaharlal Nehru was the political role model and cultural icon, especially for the youth of India.

Jawaharlal, born in 1889, was the only son of the three kids of the famous lawyer of Allahabad, Motilal Nehru and Swarupa Rani. Young Jawahar was trained in English and the western ways of life. European governesses and tutors coached him up in languages and the sciences. In 1905 he was taken to England to learn at the famous Harrow School and later at the Cambridge, opting...

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...JawaharlalNehru (Hindustani: [ˈdʒəʋaːɦərˈlaːl ˈneːɦru] ( listen); 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was the first Prime Minister of India and a central figure in Indian politics for much of the 20th century. He emerged as the paramount leader of the Indian Independence Movement under the tutelage of Mahatma Gandhi and ruled India from its establishment as an independent nation in 1947 until his death in office in 1964.[5] Nehru is considered to be the architect of the modern Indian nation-state; a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic.[6] He was the father of Indira Gandhi and the maternal grandfather of Rajiv Gandhi, who were to later serve as the third and sixth Prime Ministers of India, respectively.
The son of a prominent lawyer and nationalist statesman, Nehru was a graduate of Cambridge University and the Inner Temple, where he trained to be a barrister. Upon his return to India, he enrolled at the Allahabad High Court while taking an interest in national politics. Nehru's involvement in politics would gradually replace his legal practice. A committed nationalist since his teenage years, Nehru became a rising figure in Indian politics during the upheavals of the 1910s. He became the preeminent leader of the left-wing factions of the Indian National Congress during the 1920s, and eventually of the entire Congress, with the tacit approval of his mentor, Gandhi. As Congress President,...

...Paper
Assess the role of Nehru in the Partition of India.
Introduction
August 1947, the British Empire in India came to an end and two new independent countries were formed. Partition was a momentous event that was accompanied by widespread carnage and bloodshed, and left behind a legacy of refugee and border issues. It is historically impossible and inaccurate to identify a specific cause of Partition, instead it maybe understood that a series of political and social events lead to the dissection of British India. This paper seeks to evaluate the role of an important leader in the Partition of India—Pandit JawaharlalNehru. In order to do this it is essential that we examine the relationship between Nehru, Gandhi and Jinnah as well as political events that lead to the Hindu-Muslim divide on a political level.
The Relationship Between Gandhi and NehruNehru was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. The son of Motilal Nehru, he was assured a role in the political drama that was India’s Freedom struggle. Educated at Harrow and Cambridge, he returned to India in 1912. Gandhi emerged onto the political scene in 1918, and Nehru almost immediately became a devout follower. According to M.J. Akbar’s biography of Nehru, he sought to join the Satyagraha Sabha in 1919. A decision much opposed by Motilal Nehru who turned to Gandhi to help...

...﻿JawaharlalNehru was the first Prime Minister of India. His Prime-Minister-ship was marked by social and economic reforms of the Indian state. A number of foreign policy landmarks like the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement also marked the tenure of JawaharlalNehru as Prime Minister.
JawaharlalNehru became Prime Minister on the 15th of August 1947. His ascension was plagued by controversy and a bitter power struggle within the Congress Party. The internal struggle of the party was symptomatic of the larger struggle within the Indian Republic itself. The initial period of JawaharlalNehru as Prime Minister was marked by communal violence.
JawaharlalNehru was forced to concede the creation of Pakistan as per the wishes of the Muslim League leader the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Communal violence enveloped the entire country during this period. Maximum bloodshed was witnessed in the national capital Delhi. The Indian states of Punjab and West Bengal also witnessed fierce bloodshed.
The first Prime Minister tried to defuse the explosive situation by visiting the violence affected areas. He toured the riot stricken areas with Pakistani leaders to reassure those affected by the violence. Nehru promoted peace in Punjab during that momentous period in Indian history. The secular nature of...

...Nehru Report [1928]
The Government of India Act 1919 was essentially transitional in character. Under Section 84 of the said Act, a statutory Commission was to be appointed at the end of ten years to determine the next stage in the realization of self-rule in India. Accordingly, the Simon Commission was sent to the Sub-continent under the command of Sir John Simon. All members of the commission were British. This was regarded as highly insulting to the Indians and immediate protest was raised from all the important political parties. When the Simon Commission arrived, the local masses welcomed it by with slogans of "Go back Simon!". All the major political parties of Sub-continent, except the Shafi League of Punjab, boycotted the Simon Commission.
After the failure of Simon Commission, there was no alternative for the British government but to ask the local people to frame a constitution for themselves. They knew that the Congress and Muslim League were the two main parties and that they both had serious difference of opinions. Birkenhead, Secretary of Sate for Indian Affairs, threw the ball in the Indian politicians' court, and asked them to draw a draft of the forthcoming Act on which both Hindus and Muslims could agree. The Indian leaders accepted the challenge and for this purpose, the All Parties Conference was held at Delhi in January 1928. More than a hundred delegates of almost all the parties of the Sub-continent assembled and participated in the...

...Modern India
During the last two thousand five hundred years and more of India's history, two individual combinations made tremendous impact both on India's civilization and polity. The first duo was that of Kautilya and his trusted disciple Chandragupta Maurya who together laid the foundation of the first great historical empire of ancient India. The other duo was that of Mahatma Gandhi and JawaharlalNehru who were instrumental in laying the base of a modern Indian state and giving shape to ideas in the realm of education, culture and democracy.1
Gandhi founded the Satyagraha Ashram after returning from South Africa and successfully employed the principles of Satyagraha in uniting the peasants of Kheda and Champaran against the government. After this victory Gandhi was bestowed the title of Bapu and Mahatma and his fame spread far and wide. JawaharlalNehru was not only the first Prime Minister of India, but in that apacity, was also a major world figure during the mid-twentieth century. Like many national leaders who first lead, or play a major role in leading, their nation to independence, Nehru was widely loved and respected and ended up not only serving as the nation's leader for many years but also shaped much of the nation's political life. Practically every official act of such a leader is a first and often becomes a precedent that his successors follow.2
His great love for roses as well...

...In what ways and with what success did Nehru deal with the economic and social problems facing India?
JawaharlalNehru, leader of the Indian National Congress and later India’s first prime minister, led the Congress Party to victory in India’s first three general elections. Nehru was born in 1889, educated in England and then returned back to India. In the 1920´s he travelled around India and was alarmed by the Indian people suffering from poverty and oppression. Inspired by his travelling around the world he had an idea that socialism could be the solution to the economic and social problems in India. Mohandas Gandhi was his close confidant and successor. For Nehru human rights and liberty were valuable ideas, which inspired his ideas of a secular Indian democracy. In 17 years, serving as a prime minister of India Nehru announced several policies to improve the social and economic environment. Nehru, as a key member of the Congress Party, was responsible for the Constitution established in 1950. India and Nehru were facing several social problems, such as the traditional caste system, religious minorities and ethnicity issues, gender inequality, political extremism and local languages. His aim was to create a welfare state, in order to raise the standard of living people in India, but he believed that India could improve socially only through economic...